Summary
A representative from the king comes to take Sinuhe back to Egypt. He is allowed to spend the day in Iaa, where he gives his possessions to his children. To his eldest son Sinuhe hands over control of his tribe, his serfs, and his fruit trees. He travels with the royal envoy, sailing to the town of Ithtoue, where he spends the night. At dawn, ten more men join the envoy to bring Sinuhe to the palace.
Sinuhe touches the ground between the sphinxes while the royal children stand at the entrance to the palace, waiting to receive Sinuhe. Sinuhe is ushered through the hall of pillars to the audience hall. He finds the king sitting on his great throne. Sinuhe stretches himself prostrate before the king, who addresses him in a friendly manner. Sinuhe is so overcome by the man’s godlike status that he is barely conscious of his body. His soul and heart seem to leave him, his limbs go limp, and he does not “know life from death.”
The king calls for Sinuhe to be raised to his feet so they may speak to each other. The king says Sinuhe has returned an elderly man. He says Sinuhe’s funeral will be no small matter and that he will not be buried by barbarians. He remarks on how Sinuhe didn’t speak when his name was called, and he asks if Sinuhe is afraid he will be punished. Sinuhe replies in a frightened manner, explaining that he is filled with the same terror that first impelled him to flee. He says the king may do as he desires with Sinuhe’s life.
The royal children are brought in with the queen. The king remarks to the queen that “Sinuhe has returned as an Asiatic, an offspring of the Syrians!” The queen cries out while her children shriek in unison. They ask the king if it is really Sinuhe. The king confirms it is Sinuhe. The royal children then thank their father for rescuing Sinuhe, “the barbarian born in the Homeland.”
The children say Sinuhe fled out of fear of the king, but that he should no longer fear. The king agrees that Sinuhe should not fear him. He declares that Sinuhe will be appointed a member of the royal entourage and asks that Sinuhe be taken to the Robing Chamber.
Sinuhe is given a stately home full of expensive things and a bathroom. He is given fine treasures, linen, and oils, and well-regarded servants. Sinuhe finds that the weakness of old age leaves his body. His face is shaved, his hair is combed, and he no longer dresses in the clothes of a sand-farer, now wearing linen and oils. He sleeps on a bed, not sand.
Sinuhe is then given the house of a governor, built by many craftsmen and surrounded by freshly planted trees. The royal children and the king send meals to Sinuhe three to four times a day. Men construct a pyramid for Sinuhe out of stone. Sinuhe observes the masons measuring its place among other pyramids, the draughtsmen drawing, the sculptors carving, and the overseer of the burial grounds busying himself with the project.
Sinuhe is given his share of the standard equipment put in a tomb. The king gives him funerary priests, and land surrounding the pyramid that includes fields and a garden. He also receives a gold casket cover. Sinuhe remarks that it is the king who instructed that the tomb be built. Sinuhe says no other lowly man has received such an honorable burial. He was in the king’s favor until the day of his death.
The Tale of Sinuhe ends with a concluding statement set apart from the previous stanza to signal the story’s inscription in Sinuhe’s tomb: “So it ends, from start to finish, as found in writing.”
Analysis
In the reverse image of Sinuhe’s initial journey, Sinuhe travels back to Egypt. However, this time he isn’t a lonely, frightened deserter: he is accompanied by a royal envoy and returns a man of prestige. The theme of the godliness of rulers arises again when Sinuhe lies prostrate before King Senwosret, who Sinuhe considers a “perfected god.” The king’s holy presence is so powerful that Sinuhe dissociates from his body and cannot tell whether he is alive or dead.
In contrast to Sinuhe’s terrified adoration, the king addresses Sinuhe in a friendly, casual manner. He has people lift Sinuhe so that they may look each other in the eye. Sinuhe admits to his fear of the king, as Sinuhe is still not sure whether he will be punished for fleeing so many decades earlier. At the same moment, the royal children enter the throne room and remark on Sinuhe’s changed appearance. Having lived abroad so long, Sinuhe is styled like one of the “Asiatic” sand-farers of Retjenu.
After letting him worry for a few moments, the king reassures Sinuhe that he must not fear punishment. Displaying the loving sweetness Sinuhe earlier remarked on to Amunenshi, the king appoints Sinuhe a member of the royal inner circle, and orders that he be given new clothes so he looks like an Egyptian again.
Sinuhe’s undying loyalty to the king is further rewarded with a stately home near the palace. He is held in favor by the king and the royal children, who send several meals a day to Sinuhe’s home. Sinuhe adjusts to the life of luxurious Egyptian linens and oils, no longer sleeping on the sand as he did in Retjenu. He lives out his final days enjoying the sight of a team of craftsmen constructing his pyramid, where he will be entombed upon death.
The Tale of Sinuhe ends with Sinuhe remarking on how his nobleman’s burial was only possible because of the king’s generosity. Having been in the king’s favor his whole life, Sinuhe is afforded the luxury of a blessed afterlife befitting royalty. Sinuhe acknowledges the irony inherent to his situation, remarking that he is the only “lowly man” to receive such an honor. For Ancient Egyptian readers or listeners of the tale, Sinuhe’s account stands as an example of an average person who achieves near-godlike status through loyalty, heroism, and reverence to god and the pharaoh. With his flaws, Sinuhe is a relatable protagonist who shows how a path to redemption is possible through adherence to cultural values of the great civilization that produced the text.
